Children's Forest program provides fun and educational workshops for kids

By L.J. GamboneFor the Daily Press

Thursday

Jun 28, 2018 at 1:10 PMJun 28, 2018 at 1:10 PM

Through its Children’s Forest program, the Southern California Mountains Foundation in Fawnskin aims to teach youngsters how to become more responsible caretakers of the National Forest.

The organization hosts numerous workshops and other events at its Running Springs-based Children’s Forest Visitor Center.

Earlier this month, the Center began hosting community trail work days for children and their families on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon. It also launched craft project workshops on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon.

“The community trail work days are designed to teach people stewardship, as well as ways to give back to the mountains they enjoy,” said Wendy Craig, manager of the Children’s Forest Visitor Center. “There’s no heavy work involved, just raking the trails and removing sticks, logs and doing basic trail maintenance.”

According to Craig, the craft projects offered at the Visitor Center are fun, easy and meant to provide youngsters with a memory of what learned during their visit to the venue.

“All of our craft projects are done with recyclable materials, like pinecone bird feeders,” said Craig. “Everything we do here is aimed at encouraging people to appreciate the mountains and the great outdoors.”

Along with the workshops, the Children’s Forest Center also offers guided nature walks at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Additional walks for all ages are held at 7 p.m. on Saturdays and feature educational, campfire presentations in the Dogwood Amphitheatre.

The 3,400-acre Children’s Forest area is named for the trees planted there in the wake of the 1970 Bear Fire. Each one bears the name of a child and is part of some of the most aesthetically-pleasing backcountry in the San Bernardino Mountains, according to the Southern California Mountains Foundation website.

The Southern California Mountains Foundation is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, which believes that connecting communities to its public lands is the key to its survival. The Foundation mobilizes individuals to inspire and engage in environmental citizenship. It achieves its mission by raising money, organizing critical volunteer resources and creating and managing programs focused on health, stewardship and sustainability of Southern California mountains and urban forests.

The Children’s Forest Visitor Center is located at 32573 Highway 18. Its hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Labor Day.

For more information, www.mountainsfoundation.org.

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